


After the storm

by His_first_name_is_agent



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Christopher is as sweet as always, Hosptials, Lost Buck, M/M, Multi, Scared Eddie, tsunami
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 01:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21066341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/His_first_name_is_agent/pseuds/His_first_name_is_agent
Summary: Buck thought that he could protect Christopher, and he fails. Eddie thought they were both safe, and he was wrong.





	1. The aftershocks

The only thing Buck could think of was water.  
It was coursing, all around him, flinging him around as he was pulled from Christopher, and Buck couldn’t think of anything else but the cold, and the wet. It barely even phased him when his leg was cut open by some debris flowing past, or when he hit his head on some random piece of wood. The only thing that was real, was the water, and the fear.

After, when he got his head out of the water, and he couldn’t find Christopher, that fear morphed into something deeper. Buck started screaming, even when the water filled his mouth, he continued to scream and sputtered, darting his head back and forth, praying for the first time in years ,that Chris would be alright. That he would see him, sitting above all the mayhem, somewhere safe. That he wouldn’t have to tell his best friend how he lost the best thing in both of their lives. How he failed, again.

Buck found Christopher in less than a minute, but it felt like his heart had been stopped for days. He got him on the fire truck, dragged himself into the roof, and Christopher smiled at him, and Buck felt like it would all be alright.  
He kept Chris entertained. He kept him from seeing the bodies that seemed to endlessly flow by. He even managed to help a few people.

Buck tried his best. He tried. 

But then it all went wrong. And Buck ended up, once again, with only one thought. He had to find Christopher. 

Hours past. It was getting dark. Bucks rapid search and loud screams had long before turned into limping, and raged whimpers. The water was almost gone where he was, leaving a wet mush of debris and mud. 

Buck cried for Christopher again, but it turned into a cough. He staggered to the ground, and kept coughing, blood and salt water, and whatever else coming out of his mouth, and all he could do was sputter, and lay down on the ground.

—

Eddie hadn’t realized that they didn’t go to the movies. He was worried, sure. But he figured that the lines were busy, that they were safe at home, making hot chocolate and waiting for him to come home. Safe and sound. 

The team had been collecting survivors for hours, though, at this point it seemed like they were leaving more black tags than finding people. The debris kept floating through, and the water kept going back out to sea. The scene was awful, nothing like the city Eddie had grown to love. Every time he looked up, it was a shock, to see the streets he knew destroyed like that. It made everything seem so flimsy, so fragile. 

It made him wish that Buck had called him already. 

They dropped another shell shocked group off at the field hospital and started to head back out. Night was falling quick, and so was the temperature. They needed to get people out of the water. 

He checked his phone anyways. 

“You ready to go Eddie?”  
“All set Cap.” Eddie jumped on the boat, and it slowly got quieter as they drove away from the hospital. 

“You know, your kid’s gonna be alright,” Bobby said, looking carefully over at Eddie, “Buck wouldn’t let anything happen to him.”

“Yeah,” Eddie chuckled, “He’s probably just negotiating for later bedtime privileges now. Buck’s a badass, but he’s a pushover when it comes to Christopher”

“I mean, how can you not be, have you seen his puppy dog eyes?” Chim quipped, “I swear, last time I tried baby sitting we were eating that sugary crap cereal ten minutes after you closed the door.” 

They all chuckled, before looking ahead into the darkness. It fell silent, before the radio crackled to life.

“118? 118, Captain Bobby Nash, please respond”

“Yep, this is Bobby, what’s up.”

“We have some information for your firefighter, Eddie Diaz, about his son.”  
The radio and the boat were silent, and everyone stared at the machine. No one looked at Eddie. 

Eddie felt like he was the one underwater.

He picked up the mouth piece. 

“Eddie here, what happened?”  
His voice was steady, even though he felt like he was shattering inside. The moments stretched out, and he both couldn’t wait for the reply, and hopped that it never came. 

“He’s here with us, and a group of survivors at the police station, 227, we’ve got a warm up floor going on, and a place for people to check if their family members have been found. He’s doing good, a little damp, but we found some marshmallows for his hot chocolate and he’s telling everyone about how he was saved by a deer. “

Everyone looked at each other. 

“Buck.” Eddies lips moved on their own, the icy terror flooding his veins again, as he brought the receiver back up to his mouth.  
He needed to know.  
“Is Buck there with him? Evan Buckley, tall, birthmark above his eye? “

“No, sorry. Just Christopher. He was brought in by someone who found him on his own.”

Evan felt like he might burst into tears.

“I’m looking at the lists we have here, and I’m not seeing that name anywhere, could be a good sign,” the voice came from the radio, still steady, like a person who’s world hasn’t just turned upside down. 

Something must have shown on Eddies face, because that was when Bobby took back the microphone. Everyone was staring at Eddie, but he barely noticed. It was like static filled up his head, and was drowning everything else out, everything but the fact that Buck was, was gone.

“Thank you for watching over Christopher for us. We really appreciate it. If you hear anything about Evan Buckley, let us know.” Bobby paused and looked up. “He’s 118.” He had to stop again, and his normally strong voice came close to breaking.  
“He’s family.”  
The radio screeched back up.

“Course. We’re all family, specially on days like today. I’ll keep an ear open. Christopher was checked over already, and I’ll keep him close by, he’ll be here when you’re done your shift. 227 out.”  
The radio went quiet for the last time, and Hen breathed in a rattling breath.  
“He could be fine. We don’t know anything for sure yet.” Hen tried her best to sound reassuring, but the worry was all over her face.

“He wouldn’t leave Christopher unless he couldn’t help it.” Evan looked up, trying to come to grips with the horrible truth he was being faced with.

“Well then,” Bobby said, “let’s go find our boy.”


	2. Searching

Every time Eddie saw a body, he was sure that it was his Evan. They hadn’t picked up a survivor in ten minutes, and the closer to the pier they got, the worse the situation looked.

The crew was mostly quiet now. No one made a joke, or offered words of hope. They all were seeing the desolation that the water had brought. They all knew what likely was awaiting them when they found Evan Buckley.

It was Bobby who broke the silence.   
“Groups are moving inland now, we’d be more useful there.”

“No.” Eddie looked ahead, glaring at the other members of the 118, daring them to say something. How could he. How could Bobby, the man who was basically Bucks father just give up on him like that. 

“Look.” Bobby said, “ I don’t want to do this either, but if we find Buck,”

“When.” Eddie corrected.

“When we find buck, it’s not going to be out here. There’s lots of people who need help inland. “ he paused for a second. “There’s other people who need this boat more, and it’s not going to good use like this.”

“We need to keep looking.” Eddie said, glaring at the water, still watching for a sign of Buck.

“I’m not suggesting we stop.” Eddie looked up to meet Captain Nash’s eyes, then nodded, the fight draining out of him  
him. 

“Ok. Ok.”   
Evan felt his throat closing up, and a muffed sound came out of nowhere. 

“Hey, hey, not time to cry yet,” Chim grabbed Eddie’s arm, “There’s a man child wandering out there, somewhere, who needs us. You said it yourself. We just gotta keep looking.”

“We’ll find him.” Hen said, putting a hand on his other shoulder.

“We’ll find him.”

\---  
They were on foot, moving slowly through the wreckage of their city, helping people, searching for anyone who was still fighting in the dark and damp. 

Eddie could barely stand it. He knew, somewhere, Buck was alone, that he probably was hurt. That he might be worse than hurt. 

Eddie has just realized that he loved him, and now, the universe was stealing yet another person away from him, and he was helpless to stop it. 

Chimney walked over to him, holding something in his hand. It was a piece of paper, not too big.

“Hey, you should probably see this.” Chim’s voice was free of the normal light tone, and it instantly sent a feeling of dread over Eddie. 

“Oh.” Eddie looked at the paper, and his knees felt wobbly. It was one half of a photo booth picture, soggy, dirty, and ripped, but the people in it were still smiling, clear as day. 

Evan was doing silly faces, as Christopher laughed. The last one still on the page was the two of them, smiling big as the sun, into the camera, and it made every fibre in Eddies chest hurt.

They were the two people that Eddie cared most about in his life. 

And one of them was missing. 

“Maybe, we found that, and we’ll find Buck close by. It’s ok.” Chimney was talking but Eddie barely heard it. 

He had to find Buck, no matter what. 

Eddie started walking faster away. He had to keep looking, he had to search, go fast, find Buck. What would Christopher say, if Eddie came home without his Buck. Without another person that Chris loved. 

“Hey, hey!” Chimney called after him, “Slow down a bit, I’m right behind you.”

He didn’t slow down. He couldn’t. He had to keep going. If he stopped, that meant he didn’t have hope, and Eddie knew, the second he didn’t have hope, he would come crumbling down. He needed to find Buck. 

And that’s when he saw the pink shirt, and he started to run. Something inside him knew, just knew, that was his Buck. 

“Buck! Buck!” He screamed his name, even though he saw him lying face down in the muck for who knows how long. Saw the blood pooling around him as he got closer.

“Buck...” The words turned to a sob in his throat as he reached him, turning his cold body over and started compressions. 

“Come on, please, Buck...” Tears streamed down his face as he leaned Bucks head up and back, and delivered rescue breaths. The amount of times Eddie had thought about kissing Evan, he never pictured it being like this.

Eddie didn’t notice that Chimney had caught up, but he heard the call into the radio. 

“Cap? We found him, we’re at the corner of Cumberland and 33rd, come quick, he needs a hospital ASAP.”

There was a response, but all that felt real to Eddie was the compressions, and the stillness of Buck’s normally expressive face.

“Hey, let me take over for a little bit, K?” Chimney moved in after the third set of compressions. Eddie just nodded, leaning back on his heels, and moving out of the way. He could hear the sirens, but couldn’t look away. This was the nightmare. The worst case scenario. The one that woke him up at night. That blank look, and the emptiness that it caused in him. 

He looked away, and saw the red glasses hanging around his neck, half cracked, but there. He held in the urge to burst into tears right there. 

The ambulance pulled up, and Chimney started talking while a paramedic took over compressions from him. They loaded him onto a stretcher, and started moving away. 

“He’s got a pulse,” one EMT shouted, and Eddie felt relief coursing through him.

“Not breathing,” another yelled, and Eddie’s heart broke again. He watched as they closed the doors and drove off, sirens blazing, rushing to the nearest non-flooded hospital.

“Hey, hey hey hey, we’ll meet them there, it’s all good. He’s safe, it’s ok, you found him.” Chimney wrapped him in a hug, as Eddie sobbed. 

He had found Buck, but it was just the beginning. Even though he found him, he knew, at any moment, he could loose him again, this time, for good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I thought I was going to bed, but I guess it’s another chapter time. Enjoy.


	3. The wait

They sat in the truck, driving towards the hospital. The mood was tense, and everyone in the vehicle was in their own heads, trying to figure out what if’s, and what now’s.

“We have to tell Maddie. She needs to know that Buck’s hurt.” Chimney looked physically ill. 

“I’ll do it.” Eddie grabbed for his phone, and started looking for the number. It was his kid, his fault that he had pushed Buck out of the house, his fault that he hadn’t gotten their sooner, he needed to be the one to tell Maddie that her only family member was in an ambulance, clinging to life because of him.

“You sure?” Hen said, looking at him cautiously.

“It might be better if I...” Chim started.

“No. It has to be me. I... I’ll call her.” He pressed the dial button, and waited.

She picked up after four rings.

“Hey, Eddie, sorry, it’s pretty hectic here, everything alright?”

“It’s, it’s,” Suddenly he found it impossible to say. His voice was cracking, and his chest was feeling heavy. 

“Are you alright? Did you get hurt in the wave? It’s not Christopher, is it?” She sounded worried, and that helped him get it out.

“It’s Buck. He was hurt. He, he, wasn’t breathing.” The phone fell on the other end. There was a gap, before he could hear it being picked up again.

“Oh God, oh god, please no.” She sounded heart broken, and he knew exactly how she felt. 

“Meet us at Mercy General, we have to drop off the truck, but we’re going straight there from the house.”

“Yeah, ok, I’ll see you soon.” The line went dead, and he looked up at the other two as he put his phone in his pocket. 

“Thanks,” said Chimney, as he gave a slight nod to Ed.

“Yeah.” He replied, feeling as cold as the water outside.  
\---  
Hospital chairs are some of the most uncomfortable seats in the world. 

Half the team was lined up in them, waiting for any information they could get. It had been over two hours, and, they knew that he was in there, but almost nothing else. 

Maddie had gotten there maybe ten minutes after the team, and sobbed on Eddies shoulder, until she couldn’t cry anymore, and collapsed into Chimneys arms.

Chimney left to get coffee, but Eddie just held it, and felt it growing cold in his hands as the hours went on. 

Hen left at some point and grabbed Christopher, bringing him over to Bobby and Athena’s place. Eddie was grateful, knowing that his son was safe made the whole ordeal almost bearable. 

All he wanted to do was to hold Christopher, and never, ever let go. Make him feel safe, tell him that it’ll all be alright. But he couldn’t be in two places at once, and he didn’t want to put Christopher through this, didn’t want him to see him like this. So he just kept sitting there, and waiting.

At one point, Bobby came by, with a couple containers of food, worry lines etched into his face.  
“Christopher’s sleeping sound, and Athena’s there. Apparently, our Buck was a real hero today.”

“He’s always been a hero.” Hen replied, and everyone nodded, before lapsing back into silence.

“Y’know, if anyone can recover after this, it’s buck. I mean, he went head to head with a fire truck for crying out loud.” Chimney looked around at the somber crew. “Right? He makes rebar look like a paper cut. I bet we’ll get in that room, and he’ll be already asking to jump back into firefighting.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Eddie mumbled.

“ You want to take a walk with me Diaz? We could go see the gift shop, find Buck some overpriced firefighter stuffed monkey or something.” Chim looked at him, worry etched in his face, despite his light words. 

“I’m good here.” Eddie couldn’t leave, not until he knew Buck was alright.

“Seriously man, you’ve been sitting in that chair for over 10 hours, you sure you don’t need a little stretch? My place isn’t that far, you could head over there, take a shower...” 

“I’m staying.” He looked Chim in the eye, and some understanding washed over Chims face and he nodded.

“Ok man, of course. Offers open to everyone. Mi casa et su casa. I have a few clean towels, and a couple beds, plus electricity, so if anyone needs a break, just let me know, ok?” 

“Thanks Chim, I think we’re all staying put for now though.” Maddie leaned into him, gently, and looked back down at her coffee.

“Yeah, I mean of course. I’m sticking here too.” Chim said, putting his arm over Maddie’s shoulder. 

A young woman in scrubs walked in, and everyone looked up.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Baril, Buck’s neurologist. Who’s his family? “ She looked around the room at the gathering of people, and everyone looked back at her.

“We all are,” Maddie said, “I’m his sister, but whatever you need to say, everyone should hear.”

“Alright then.” The doctor began, “while it’s hard to tell for sure before he wakes up, he looks like he’ll be alright. You guys found him just in time. Because of the blood thinners, he had some internal bruising that ended up being worse than it should have been, but we patched that up, and while he still has a couple of cracked ribs, everything should heal properly, even though it might take a little longer than usual. The main problem, which, is why I’m here, is his brain. He likely received a concussion during the wave, and he had a brain bleed, but, we were able to go in and stop it from doing too much damage. Right now, he’s in a medically induced coma, and on a ventilator, and it’ll take some time before we know for sure how he’ll be if he wakes up. He’s in the ICU, but you can all sit with him, two at a time, and we’ll let you know as things develop. “ She looked over the group, “I can take a few of you to see him now if you’re ready.”

“Maddie, are you alright?” Chim asked, pulling her close. “You should go first, if you’re up to it.” 

“Yeah,” she said, wiping away the tears that were on her cheeks. “Yeah, I’ll come now.” 

Eddie sat back down, and placed his head in his hands. Brain bleeds, internal bruising, broken ribs, coma, it was all too much. Buck shouldn’t be in that bed, not lying still, having a machine breath for him. It was all his fault.

“Eddie, you want to come?”

He looked up. “Me?” He whispered.

“Course you. You saved him.” She reached out a hand, and helped him up. His legs were a little wobbly, but he was going to see Buck. Buck was alive, and he was going to go see him. Eddie nodded a thanks to Maddie, and looked at the doctor.

“Alright, lead the way Doc.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, now I swear not another chapter before my midterm.

**Author's Note:**

> More chapters coming after my chemistry midterm, (or maybe before, if I procrastinate a bit). I’m under a bit of stress and writing on little sleep, so any mistakes are my own.
> 
> Kudos and comments keep me going! Next chapter will be a short one, but it’ll coming quickly


End file.
